Developer Appreciation: Stalker

In mother Russia, your first quest is to kill yourself!

The Stalker series is easily one of my favorite to date. In it, you wander the irradiated zone around Chernobyl while solving mysteries, fighting men and mutants alike, and generally try to survive the oppressive and grim environment which tends to shuffle and respawn random encounters and anomalies every so often just to keep you on your toes.

Metro 2033 which has a similar vein loses out here since it squarely fits into the "shooter" category and gives you structured missions with often claustrophobic maps. Stalker is an open world. There are story missions, but you are free to just go hiking and spelunking to find those random powerful artifacts at your own peril.

Just don't be outdoors when the skies randomly go red.

Having the pack space and weight limit also forces you to decide if you really want to bring that second rifle instead of other supplies like food, anti-rad, bandages, or simply more ammo. Of course, your primary weapon might break at any moment so... perhaps a light pistol is a better alternative? Good luck taking down an army partrol or multiple blood suckers with that though. Sneaking by is always an option, as is getting factions to kill each other.

Challenging, fun and most definitely immersive

Another Lab of Horror

My journal through Stalker Soup - a mega mod for Shadows of Chernobyl! You can follow the rest of the story here!

Not that type of Lab.

With my psi-block helmet on it was time to march into that facility, and by march I actually mean very cautiously navigate past a deadly anomaly field. I had been warned that once I stepped in, the helmet could only protect me for so long so I made it a point to move a bit quicker, using my spray-and-pray Necro rifle to hose down the numerous zombies and snorks lurking within. The building I was meant to explore was blocked by a nasty teleport though (it threw me to the snork swamp - reload :P) so I had to find my way up to the higher levels using an adjoining structure and sneak in through a window. Once inside it was down, down into the darkness. This lab was pretty straight forward, just dark and home to more dead brains and jumping idiots. Eventually I reached the multi-level core and that's when the timer started. I had to shut down the death machine quick or I'd soon be one of the dead heads. The Necro served me well here as zombies began piling in from the higher levels and from behind me. With four switches to hit on various floors I had no time to take cover and had to spray from the hip. Eventually I made it to the top control and managed to shut that bastard
down. Huzzah!

Now I just had to get out - the ladder I used to drop down was broken and I couldn't go back that way so I forged ahead to the final chamber but stopped quickly as five burers blocked the hallway ahead. This was a challenge but I managed to get past them by using a turn in the hall and their greed. I noticed most AI here like to loot things so I tossed a rifle out at waited at the corner with my Saiga shotgun. Sure enough one of the dwarves shortly showed up, going directly for the item. A single shell to the side of it's head finished it. Soon after the second dwarf came to loot the first - he met the same end. This repeated until all five were dead in a humorous congo line with none of them having noticed me at all. Victorious I marched up to the door confidently and was faced with the largest group of fleshes, rats, and dogs I've ever seen! With a quick switch to the Necro I hosed them all down, as well as the Controller lurking in the back behind them. Having collected what I came for I found a hole in the floor which indicated my exit. Sure enough I found myself in the now unused tunnels beneath the facility, now inhabited only by snorks and a pseudogiant. The sounds of a helicopter outside plus heavy gunfire was not good but it turns out the military was not what I had to worry about. After climbing up a tall ladder I saw that there were now two "super" chimeras running around along with a whole pack of snorks - I call them "super" because they had lightning circling around them and each time I tried to shoot at them from above my shots reflected back and killed me! :(

After much loading, I decided to be quiet and watch what they'd do - the lot of them jumped straight down the long shaft I just climbed up. While they were down there I took the opportunity to FLEE. Didn't get very far before they caught wind of that and began chasing after me though, but now being on lower terrain I filled their bellies full of holes and they died before their claws could finish me off. With my armor in ruins, I hobbled back to the Research Outpost and handed it as many quests as I could, earning a bit of cash which I quickly spent on medical supplies of all kinds.

Return of the Yantar

My journal through Stalker Soup - a mega mod for Shadows of Chernobyl! You can follow the rest of the story here!

At the Garbage a band of 3 mercs pulled a really tough ambush on me (flanking from both sides) probably because of what I did to their buddies at Cordon previously. Survived that and started restocking on grenades from the Duty guys at their road block. Also got a nice sniper rifle from one of them for giving him a whole bunch of flesh eyes. At the entry to Bar the road was again full of anomalies and sure enough the Burer and his pet pseudodog were still lurking about. It was bright daytime now though, and with the new rifle I managed to one-shot the Burer between the eyes before he could react. The dog was a bit more annoying, hiding in the tall grass so I just kept pushing forward and when I thought he was almost on me, I turned around quickly and Saiga'd the mutt in the face.

Some strange things happening at the South watch to Bar when I got there though - they were being attacked by bandits from INSIDE the base? Maybe a group escaped from the arena? No matter, they handled the threat though half the guards were now dead. Handed in a whole bunch of things at the Bar itself, upgraded my radar to detect bloodsuckers, and left my duty armor (found it off some one at Dark Valley ages ago) to be repaired and in its place am finally using the science suit Kruglov gave me at Yantar. Speaking of which, that's where I need to head next - to find another lab. You mean the one that kills me as soon as I step in there? Yeah probably that one.

Didn't end up using the science suit for very long as there was a large group of exo-skeleton mercs waiting for me in the Wild Territory (the ruined city) whom I sniped down from far. Managed to salvage one of exo suits and continued on my way past the multiple anomaly fields to get the high ground. Good thing too as I saw new blips on my radar moving around really quick. That upgrade was working. From the rooftops I also eliminated a large pack of psydogs that had taken residence there as well as the odd sniper or two. Finally after what felt like a long trek I made it back to Yantar and was given the task of escorting my old buddy Kruglov to take some readings to develop an anti-instant death helmet. For a scientist he handles a gun well, and we completed the task through a good number of zombies with ease (though we did both black out at one point - good thing no zombies were around then!). Once we returned to the mobile camp Sahkarov used the data to complete the device and I was finally ready to look for the next undoubtedly spooky laboratory.

Exoskeletons are cool. This is the Sarcos prototype.

A Quick Respite... of Madness!

Thought I'd give you a breather from all the Mabinogi classes I've been posting. Don't worry though, there is still more of that to come - and more adventures in the Shadow of Chernobyl too! Not yet for the Skyrim journal though, at least not until I get around to getting Dawnguard. :)

So what have I been up to? Well, playing Mabinogi as one may have guessed but I switch it out with other things too like watching Masterchef Australia (season 4) which is about to head into it's final week! While that's a bit sad I'll get 3 weeks more Masterchef with the All-Stars version starting up right after. Probably gonna watch some Olympics too since that's about to start up shortly, but it will have a tough ask as it needs to beat Fringe which my wife and I are currently watching. Damn it's a good series, and I highly recommend it.

Also been playing the Walking Dead game (hey I think the next season of this is going to start up soon too), which is pretty cool but as of now still unfinished. Getting killed left right and center in Arma II as well, but I haven't put too much time into that yet - no, my recent adventures have all been in a little game called "Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth". It's a little dated but is still very awesome, engaging and immersing. Almost like a single player run of the board game (which I am also a fan of). Alas it isn't quite open-world though so I won't be doing write ups for that one - it is better if you experience it for yourself! Nothing quite like being chased by a shoggoth or being driven mad by the great Cthulhu. ^_^

Got myself a newly forged "Beasts of Iron" novel from my buddy Paul C. Goosen too, and being a friend of his thought I should pimp out his work! Go have a looksie for yourself!

Anywho, been awhile since I put up random links for y'all so here's some stuff that's caught my interest recently:

Ultima Forever - because the Avatar can never die.
Deadpool vs the World?
PC Game Evolution - Brings back some memories!
Dirty Laundry (courtesy of Juris) - a cool Punisher short

Diary of a Marked One

A journal about my re-run through Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl using the mega Stalker Soup MOD. I've previously won this game (as well as Clear Sky, Call of Pripyat, and Metro 2033) years ago but the new gameplay mechanics are bound to keep things fresh and exciting. Even if they don't I'm such a big fan of the Stalker series that I wouldn't mind playing it again anyway! I had originally thought to just go in using "the Collector" which begins the gameplay -after- the main story is finished but where's the fun in that?

Later on I'm continuing the tale in Borderlands which has a similar setting to the Stalker universe anyway.

And so, after ramping up the difficulty to the hardest mode, the adventure through the radioactive zone begins...

1. Tripping out at the Cordon 
2. Wrong side of the Tracks 
3. Another Mans Treasure 
4. In-depth Research
5. A Bar full of Bullets 
6. Rostok Rumba
7. Southern Circuit
8. Descent Into the Dark Valley 
9. Escape from the Dark Valley
10. Surprises in the Swamp
11. One Heck of a Detour
12. Drive and Draw
13. Return of the Yantar
14. Another Lab of Horror
15. Guns make the World go around
16. Night of the Full Moon
17. Breaking Dawn 
18. Anomaly at the End of the World
19. America! Fuck Yeah!
20. Monolithic Defense
21. Welcome to Lubech (moved to Stalker Online Beta)
22. Journey to the City
23. A Good Place
24. Country Walkabout 
25. Bear-ly Returning Alive
26. Crisscross Scouting
27. Station Lockdown
28. Bus to the Badlands (moved to Borderlands)
29. Let the Cleansing Begin
30. Steroids aren't the Key
31. Hammer Time
32. Auto Duel
33. Ghosts and Monster Trucks
34. Things Great and Small
35. What's up DAHL?
36. How to deal with Scum 
37. A Lance of Crimson
38. Sherrif of the Wastes
39. Melting Moments
40. There can be only One
41. Intentional Miscommunications
42. Impaired Living
43. The Best Cure is Bullets
44. Familiar Ground
45. Defeating the Creator
46. Memories of the Fall (moved to Farcry 3)
47. The Warrior's Path
48. Independent Princess
49. I've got the Stones
50. Deals and Devils
51. That's not a Knife
52. Peekaboo! Guess Who?
53. Trippin Balls
54. The South Island
55. Crazy Monkeys
56. This Little Piggy
57. Killing is Winning
58. A New Target
59. The Long Way Around
60. Gear Check
61. Bunker Down
62. Drug Worship 
63. Hard Earned Riches